European Powers vital for Britain
By Mat Davies
Leaders at the Economic Forum of Young Leaders have been meeting in Poland every September for ten years. Partnerships have been made, friendships solidified, and political dividing lines debated. This meeting, like many others is not about the creation of the United States of Europe. It is about the solidarity of the citizens of many nations who were once fighting instead of negotiating. My country, Britain, has had an uneasy relationship with the European Union. And it is for many good reasons. However, we must not throw the baby out with the bathwater. With the decline of the USA, the rise of China, the aggression of Russia, and democracy receding, we must work with the European Union for economic, social, but most importantly, political power. This article may appear a muddle of policy areas and arguments. But that defines the nature of the EU.
The European Union is a mess!
"We seek an amicable divorce from the European Union and its replacement with a genuine free-trade agreement, which is what my parents' generation thought we’d signed up for in the first place."
(UKIP, 2004)
There is a democratic deficit in the EU. This is stated in the Lisbon Treaty that came into effect in 2010. Sadly, the Treaty was passed through a questionable process. The Republic of Ireland rejected the Treaty, and then asked to vote again. This did not go unnoticed in the UK, and signaled that an EU elite had clear political objectives. This is not a new phenomenon. British people voted to join the European Community in 1975. It was an economic rather than political union. Since then the Maastricht Treaty and the development of the European Parliament, a President and Foreign Affairs Council has come into being. The EU is now a political union. European Agencies such as the border force FRONTEX and a raft of security operations have made the democratic deficit argument stronger. Regardless, Liberal Democracies must work together in the 21st century in order to effect positive democratic change in an increasingly uncertain economically and politically aggressive international environment.
The British Referendum
"Seventy years ago, Europe was being torn apart by its second catastrophic conflict in a generation … The skies of London lit by flames night after night. And millions dead across the world in the battle for peace and liberty’’
is on the horizon
(Prime Minister David Cameron, 2013)
The campaign for an in/out referendum is beginning. On one hand the anti EU United Kingdom Independence Party have an important argument to make, whereas the Liberal Democrats, Labour Party and Conservatives need to argue theirs. The danger is that the debate regarding Britain and the EU will become suffocated with economics and the broader issues will be lost. There are strong economic arguments to leave and stay in the EU. But that debate lacks vision.
The key three questions that need to be asked are the following. Do we want to live in an open or closed society? Do we want to, and if so, how can we export our values and principles internationally? And finally, do we want to maximize power for the British state? The final question is the most important. The first role of a government is the protection of its citizens. Being a member of the EU is vital to achieve that.
Liberal Democracies need to work together.
"In an increasingly multipolar world, in which GDP and population will increasingly be correlated, the rationale for Europe is stronger than ever. Together, Europe’s peoples can wield genuine influence … It’s about power. And that is the rationale for Europe today"
(Tony Blair, 2014)
Some political scientists bought Francis Fukuyama’s argument that the end of the cold war beckoned in the End of History, and the triumph of liberal democracy. Others such as Samuel Huntington argued that cultural dividing lines would erupt. The 90s witnessed that in Bosnia and then Kosovo. But something more odious has occurred. At the same time that Liberal Democracies and international institutions were undermined by the Financial Crisis, the attack on Georgian soil by Russian troops in 2008 woke many people up to another reality. Power politics mattered. This has been clarified in the modernization of the Russian nuclear arsenal and articulated clearly by Edward Lucas in his 2008 book, the ‘’New Cold War’’ and in the seminal work published in 2004 by Anna Politkovskaya’s ‘’Putin’s Russia’’. But it was the invasion of Crimea that clearly signaled that the United States did not hold a monopoly on Realpolitik. This matters to Britain.
The British and European media and political rhetoric is sometimes too European. The Middle East and ISIS is only one part of the aggressive security environment unraveling. China’s rise is also causing tensions in Asia. There have been heated island disputes between Japan and China, and the overall security environment is shifting as China becomes stronger. Japan has recently reinterpreted its post war peacetime constitution. This will allow the Liberal Democratic Party led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to join its allies in interdependent preemptive warfare. Poignantly, Professor Sheila Smith explains that China and Japan have never been strong at the same time, and this shift in power presents a new unknown dynamic in the region both economically and militarily. The point is this, beyond mainstream stories, usually obsessed with immigration or the Eurozone, there is one basic issue that is vital to state security with respect to the EU. Power.
Conversely, Harvard Historian Niall Ferguson argues that the security role of the EU is fanciful. He points out that NATO serves and served that purpose. In terms of hard power, he is right. But he is wrong to ignore the role of economic power, the influence of solidarity between EU nations within international institutions, and the role of soft power. The liberal policies with respect to the free movement of labor, and international partnerships makes an often muted, albeit effective impact in world affairs There is a battle of ideas in the world. Britain was the land of the Magna Carta, the industrial revolution and the land of the Suffragettes. If it wishes to champion inclusive institutions that only liberal democracies facilitate, then its 27 partners in Europe are vital. British politicians need to argue for a new vision of Britain in Europe. That vision must be connected to the role of the free world, and linked to the threats of the 21st century that are nuclear, biological, chemical, cyber, economic, environmental and ideological. Simply, the principles of freedom and liberty need to be shouted loud without fear of reprisal.
